Taste of the Nation 2011 in Pictures

It was a lively scene last night at Share Our Strength's Taste of the Nation at the Fairmont Turnberry Isle in Aventura. Forty local chefs cooked to raise money for programs to feed children in need.

The place wasn't too crowded, making it easy to navigate the large ballroom to get a taste of what the restaurants had to offer. Chef Makoto Okuwa of Makoto stole our palates with his pan-seared sushi rice topped with spicy tuna. So did the Tudor House's popcorn milk shake served with a side of salty-sweet brown butter popcorn. Chef Michael Bloise, now with Sushi Samba on Lincoln Road, served a tasty curry-dusted picanha with sweet potato. Other bites we loved: STK's short rib buns and db Bistro's poussin ballotine.

Chefs Paula da Silva of 1500 and Philip Brock of the Fairmont's Calafate Grill battled for $5,000 for charity. Brock took the prize. Wines, fruit liqueurs, tequila and Moonshine flowed.

Here are some photos.

Tastes at the ballroom

Philip Brock, Paula da Silva, Ralph Pagano

Tudor House's popcorn milk shake ...

... and the popcorn

Team Makoto

Chef Douglas Rodriguez's crispy pork with greens

The SushiSamba crew

Veev's mason jar mojitos ...

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